Field of Endeavor
The present invention relates to devices, systems, and processes useful as remote power outlet controllers, and more specifically to controllers usable with two-state and dimmer switches.
Brief Description of the Related Art
Residential customers with homes wired with a power receptacle connected to a wall switch is common. The switched power receptacle, as described, is typically installed by a homebuilder utilizing a line voltage wall switch to energize and de-energize a single or double power outlet elsewhere in a room. This typically affords the homeowner the option to connect a light or appliance to the switched outlet and have the capability of turning the appliance on and off via the wall switch; this is similar to the overhead lights in a room.
A majority of the time, the switched outlet may not be in a useful location within the room and the switched outlet is thereby not utilized for its intended function.
Prior devices have been proposed to remotely, including wirelessly, control the on-off state of a wall power outlet, from a wall outlet that is directly controlled by a wall switch. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,895,985 and 7,375,445 describe some of these prior proposals.
Prior systems are not, however, expandable in their control by pairing additional receivers to a single transmitter in order to control multiple devices from a single wall switch, and therefore there remains a need for systems and methods which permit control, from a first wall power outlet the state of which is controlled by a wall switch, of a second or more wall power outlets remote from the first wall power outlet. Therefore, there remains a need for improvements in this area.